


Twilight

by Kuroeia (Empatheia)



Category: Claymore
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-16
Updated: 2007-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-08 15:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/444873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empatheia/pseuds/Kuroeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Relearning humanity, one morning at a time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twilight

They take turns being the first to wake up.

Some days just the first grey hint of sunlight is enough to tear Clare from sleep, convinced that there is fire, death, pain, _evil_ lurking in the pre-dawn shadows. There are no shadows at night because there is no light to cast them; it's the twilight hours that are the most dangerous, because her eyes can see very well in true darkness and even better in true daylight, but the gloom makes things too soft around the edges.

Some days she's so exhausted from blood and battle that she doesn't wake up until the sun clears the trees. Those mornings there's hot water and breakfast on the fire waiting for her, and Raki, pleased to have the time to do something for her. He is always doing things for her, if she sits still long enough to let him.

Whenever she's up first, there's nothing much better to do than sit and feed the fire, so she watches Raki sleep. It's strange to her that he doesn't wake up, feeling eyes on him and knowing that being seen means being in danger. Had she asked him while awake, he might have blushed and made some fumbling explanation about how he didn't have to wake up because her watching him meant he was _safe_ , not endangered, and blushed some more. She never asks him because she doesn't want to hear him say that out loud and have to face up to the fact that he trusts her, actually trusts her.

She is a demon-eater. There is evil blood running through her, making her strong, making her heartless. She doesn't deserve to be trusted.

Another thing she does not examine closely is why the sounds Raki makes around the campsite when he wakes first — stoking the fire, readying breakfast, crunching through the undergrowth with fresh cold water for cleaning up with — never disturb her slumber. It's as if her monstrously heightened senses know he is not a threat even at the unconscious level. She trusts him, as he trusts her, possibly even more so since she's never quite sure what to expect from him at most times and he _always_ knows what to expect from her.

This morning, she is first to awaken. Her eyes open and are already on Raki's silently breathing form some few short feet away, as though she'd tied them there last night and forgotten to loose them when she fell asleep.

He is facing her, smiling faintly at whatever dreams he is having. All that horror in his past, and his good dreams still outnumber his nightmares.

Perhaps that is what being human means.

Clare has long since forgotten, but she is being reminded, each awakening to the next.

**X**

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by: tomoeish  
> Prompt: awakening


End file.
